Filling valve



Nov. 15, 1966 MISTARZ 3,285,300

FILLING VALVE Filed Aug. 23, 1963 g 2 25 F6 1% jfzz :l

United States Patent 3,285,300 FILLING VALVE Robert J. Mistarz, Northbrook, 111., assignor to Chicago Stainless Equipment Corporation, a corporation of Illinois Filed Aug. 23, 1963, Ser. No. 303,990 2 Claims. (Cl. 141392) This invention relates to a nozzle apparatus for flowing a foamable liquid without excessive foaming thereof.

In flowing foamable liquids such as milk to a destination such as into a container, it is often difficult to prevent foaming with the result that the containersare improperly filled and portions of the liquid are wasted.

One of the features of this invention is to provide an improved nozzle apparatus for flowing a foamable liquid to a destination even at high speed without excessive foaming.

Other features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description of one embodi ment thereof taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing.

The single figure of the accompanying drawing is a fragmentary sectional view of an improved nozzle apparatus embodying the invention and used for filling a container with milk. The apparatus of the embodiment includes a base plate on which is mounted a cylinder 11 containing a piston 12 that is adapted to be moved up and down, as indicated by the arrows 13, by means of a piston shaft 14. The piston 12 is sealed to the inner surface of the cylinder 11 by means of a circular gasket 15 on the outer Periphery of the piston 12.

The bottom of the cylinder 11 is closed by a metal plate 16 containing an upwardly and outwardly flared inlet opening 17. This opening 17 communicates with an inlet pipe 18 into which the liquid, here milk, is adapted to be drawn as indicated by the arrow 19.

The pipe 18 is removably secured to the bottom of the metal plate 16 by means of a threaded collar 20 so that the apparatus may be disassembled for cleaning.

The inlet opening 17 is normally closed by means of a cone shaped inlet valve 21 that is provided with a circular gasket 22 to maintain a liquid seal when the valve is closed. The valve 21 is provided with a downwardly extending stem 23 extending into the pipe 18 and the stem is vertically movable within a supporting spider 24. The valve stem 23 and thus the valve 21 is urged in a downward or closed direction by means of a helical spring 25 surrounding the lower end of the stem 23 and having one end bearing against the bottom of the spider 24 and the other end bearing against a collar 26 on the lower end of the stem 23.

The plate 16 is also provided with an outlet opening 27 so that the opening 17 serves as an entrance to the cylinder 11 beneath the piston 12 and the outlet opening 27 serves as an exit for this same portion of the cylinder.

The outlet opening 27 is normally closed by a closure 28 that is sealed to the opening 27 by means of a gasket 29. Extending downwardly from the closure 28 is a stem 30 which is located in a. discharge chamber 31. This discharge chamber 31 is located in a downward cylindrical extension 32 of the plate 16 which is aligned with a cylindrical fitting 33. The extension 32 and fitting 33 are releasably held in alignment to form the complete chamber 31 by means of a threaded collar 34 similar to the collar 20. A gasket 35 is provided to seal the extension and fitting together.

With the above construction the fitting 33 serves as a nozzle and is provided with an outwardly extending annular flange 36 which is spaced above the top of a milk carton 37 while it is being filled with milk 38.

Patented Nov. 15, 1966 "ice The nozzle 33 is provided on its lower end with a closure 39 that is adapted to close the bottom exit 40 of the nozzle when the valve 28 and closure 39 are in their raised or closed positions as shown in the drawing. However, a small bleed opening 41 is provided between one edge of the closure 39 and the adjacent edge of the exit 40 in order that the interior of the chamber 31 will be substantially at atmospheric pressure. Although the chamber 31 is normally full of liquid during operation of the nozzle structure, this liquid does not fall through the bleed opening 41 because the surface tension of the liquid produces a pipette effect.

The exit closure 39 is mounted on the bottom of the valve stem 30 so that both closures 28 and 39 are vertically movable as a unit between closed and open positions. In order to urge both in closed position there is provided a helical spring 42 around the upper end of the stem 30 with the upper end of the spring 42 bearing against the bottom of the exit closure 28 and the lower end bearing against a spider 43 that spans the nozzle fitting 33 adjacent the top thereof.

Resting on the top of the spider 43 and surrounding the spring 42 and adjacent portion of the stem 30 is a plug 44 having the shape of an inverted truncated cone. The bottom of the plug 44 rests on the spider 43 and the top 56 which is the base of the cone is generally circular and is spaced a short distance, such as about ,4 inch, from the inner surface of the extension 32 to provide the annular space 45. The closure has its outer surface spaced a similar distance from the inner surface of the extension 32 to provide the small annular space 46 which in this same embodiment is also about inch.

The closure 39 has an outwardly and downwardly sloped skirt 47 whose lower edge is adjacent and within the lower edge 48 of the nozzle fitting 33. Mounted on one side of this closure 39 is a radially extending plate 49.

Because of the inwardly tapered shape of the plug 44 the outer side surface 50 of this plug cooperates with the adjacent inner surface of the extension 32 to provide an annular chamber 51 of increasing cross section when progressing from the top end or base 56 of the plug to its lower end that rests on the spider 43.

During operation of the filling apparatus a milk carton 37 is positioned under the nozzle with the upper edge being spaced beneath the annular flange 36. The inlet pipe 18 is connected to a supply pipe (not shown). Upward motion of the piston 12 acts as a pump to create a partial vacuum in the space 52 beneath the piston 12. This draws the liquid (here milk) inwardly through the pipe 18 and the partial vacuum serves to lift the inlet valve 21 from its seat 17 against the urging of the spring 25. After the piston shaft 14 has been given a full upward stroke the piston is then returned toward its initial position adjacent the metal plate 16 as indicated by the double arrow 13. This serves to force down and close the inlet valve 21. Also the resulting liquid pressure on the closure 28 moves it down against the base 56 of the plug 44 against the urging of the spring 42. Because the annular space 46 and the annular space 45 are so small the liquid from the space 52 is forced through the space 45 at very high velocity as a high energy jet. Although the discharge chamber 31 is normally filled with the liquid being dispensed, this high energy jet does not cause excessive tfoaming because a major portion of the energy is absorbed by its passage through the annular chamber 51 of increasing cross section. Thus, by the time the liquid has reached the area of the spider 43 much of the energy is dissipated so that foaming is prevented.

Because of the tieing together of the closures 28 and 39 by the stem 30 the bottom closure 39 is moved to open position as indicated by the broken lines 53 by the downward movement of the closure 28. In the preferred embodiment, the distance of movement of the top closure 28 and thus of the bottom closure 39 as indicated by the arrow 54 is approximately one-fourth the diameter of the. discharge chamber 31 in the region of the exit 40. This diameter is indicated on the drawing by the line D.

With this arrangement foaming is very greatly retarded if not completely prevented even when the liquid being dispensed is a readily foamable liquid such as milk. This foaming is retarded because the high energy jet in the space 45 passes into the area 51 of increasing cross section so that much of the energy is absorbed. In addition, the annular area of the space 54 when the valves are fully open is approximately the same as the cross sectional area of the exit 40 and this is the reason why the distance 54 is approximately one-fourth the diameter D. This means that the liquid in the discharge chamber 31 flows from the nozzle into the container 37 in a stream of substantially constant cross sectional area until it is completely out of the nozzle.

In order to prevent foaming within the container 37 the downwardly and outwardly sloped skirt 47 on the closure 39 directs the liquid outwardly against the side walls 55 of the container so that it can flow in a sheet down these walls without turbulence and thus without entrappin-g air so as to cause foaming.

As the container 37 is filled with the liquid the rising level of course lforces air from the container. In order to permit passage of the air through this annular sheet of liquid (not shown) the radial plate 49 provides a generally pie-shaped opening in the annular liquid sheet through which the air can escape.

As mentioned earlier, the nozzle 31 is normally filled with liquid. This is true because at the end of the down stroke of the piston 12, when the closures 28 and 39 are open, the liquid has been flowing from the pump space 52 into the discharge chamber 31 and from there into the container 37. As soon as upward movement of the piston 12 is begun, closures 28 and 39 move immediately to closed position as shown in the drawings under the urging of the spring 42. This traps liquid within the discharge chamber 31 and between the two closures 28 and 39. This trapped liquid cannot drop out of the bleed opening 41 because of the surface tension of the liquid. During this upstroke of the piston 12 the inlet valve 21 opens, as previously described, to draw more liquid into the pump space or chamber 52. Then, as the piston 12 descends, this liquid is forced out the nozzle fitting 33 in the manner previously described.

The combination of the jet through the space 45 projecting into a space portion 51 of increasing cross section and the provision of the exit space 54 of approximately the same cross sectional area as the discharge exit 40 greatly reduces if not completely prevents foaming of the foamable liquid as previously described. However, the provision of the jet space 45 into the space 51 performs another very important and advantageous function in the following manner.

As stated, the discharge chamber 31 is normally filled with liquid from the preceding dispensing operation of the piston 12. However, on certain occasions, such as when first starting operation, the chamber 31 will be full of air. By providing the high speed jet at the space 45 discharging into the annular area 51 of the discharge chamber, even this air is prevented from causing excessive foaming. The reason for this is that the first motion of the piston 12 in its downward movement causes the jet at the space 45 to provide an expanding mass of liquid that forces this air out the exit opening 40 without substantially entrapping this air in the liquid to cause foaming. Then, subsequent operating cycles of the piston 12 are in the manner previously described.

Having the cross sectional area of the exit opening 54 substantially the same as the cross sectional area of the exit 40 is very important in preventing foaming. This is true because the liquid exiting into the container 37 is at substantially the same velocity as when it passes through the discharge chamber 31. Thus, entrapment of air is substantially prevented. 7

Having described my invention as related to the embodiment shown in the accompanying drawing, it is my intention that the invention be not limited by any of the details of description, unless otherwise specified, but rather be construed broadly within its spirit and scope as set out in the accompanying claims.

I claim:

1. Nozzle apparatus for flowing a vfoamable liquid without excessive foaming, comprising: means forming a cylindrical discharge chamber having an entrance end, an exit end and a cylindrical wall ther'ebetween; a closure for said entrance; a closure for said exit; means connecting said entrance closure and said exit closure for simultaneous movement between open and closed positions; resilient means urging both said closures toward closed position; means for forcing said liquid under pressure into said chamber to provide a high energy jet of said liquid at said entrance along said wall, said forcing means operating through said liquid to open both said closures against the urging of said resilient means; means in said chamber at said entrance for providing an annular chamber portion with diverging walls of continuously increasing cross sectional area adjacent to and extending from said entrance to absorb a portion of said high energy to retard foaming; and means forming an atmospheric bleed opening into said chamber at said exit closure for maintaining said chamber at approximately atmospheric pressure when not in use.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein means are provided for limiting the maximum extent of movement of said exit closure to fully open position with said extent being about one-fourth the diameter of said cylindrical discharge chamber in the region of said exit.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,355,016 10/1920 Thompson 141286 2,179,292 11/1939 Hanna 138-40 X 2,920,858 1/1960 Hunter 251118 FOREIGN PATENTS 925,344 3/ 1947 France.

OTHER REFERENCES Osborne, A.: Modern Marine Engineers Manual, N.Y., Cornell Maritime Press, 1941, VM 60008 C. 2, pp. 14-44 and 14-54 relied on.

LAVERNE D. GEIGER, Primary Examiner.

E. EARLS, Assistant Examiner. 

1. NOZZLE APPARATUS FOR FLOWING A FOAMABLE LIQUID WITHOUT EXCESSIVE FOAMING, COMPRISING: MEANS FORMING A CYLINDRICAL DISCHARGE CHAMBER HAVING AN ENTRANCE END, AN EXIT END AND A CYLINDRICAL WALL THEREBETWEEN; A CLOSURE FOR SAID ENTRANCE; A CLOSURE FOR SAID EXIT; MEANS CONNECTING SAID ENTRANCE CLOSURE AND SAID EXIT CLOSURE FOR SIMULTANEOUS MOVEMENT BETWEEN OPEN AND CLOSED POSITIONS; RESILIENT MEANS URGING BOTH SAID CLOSURES TOWARD CLOSED POSITION; MEANS FOR FORCING SAID LIQUID UNDER PRESSURE INTO SAID CHAMBER TO PROVIDE A HIGH ENERGY JET OF SAID LIQUID AT SAID ENTRANCE ALONG A SAID WALL, SAID FORCING MEANS OPERATING THROUGH SAID LIQUID TO OPEN BOTH SAID CLOSURES AGAINST THE URGING OF SAID RESILIENT MEANS; MEANS IN SAID CHAMBER AT SAID ENTRANCE FOR PROVIDING AN ANNULAR CHAMBER PORTION WITH DIVERGING WALLS OF CONTINUOUSLY INCREASING CROSS SECTIONAL AREA ADJACENT TO AND EXTENDING FROM SAID ENTRANCE TO ABSORB A PORTION OF SAID HIGH ENERGY TO RETARD FOAMING; AND MEANS FORMING AN ATMOSPHERIC BLEED OPENING INTO SAID CHAMBER AT SAID EXIT CLOSURE FOR MAINTAINING SAID CHAMBER AT APPROXIMATELY ATMOSPHERIC PRESSURE WHEN NOT IN USE. 